Embrace Empowerment
“When I dare to be powerful – to use my strength in the service of my vision, then it becomes less and less important whether I am afraid.” - Audre Lorde
Embracing empowerment allows for robust and confident action, especially in mindfully living one's life. Empowerment can include individual accountability, independent thinking, self-support, community support, building an environment that encourages and supports you, challenging the status quo, and consistent and progressive improvement and/or progress. Consider:
What does empowerment mean to you?
What can being and feeling empowered create for you?
When are you or do you feel empowered?
What creates confidence and an internal feeling of power?
Have you identified your strengths and how they can play a role in feeling empowered?
What are your desires and aspirations and how might empowerment play a role in moving you along the path toward those?
You have the ability to create empowerment for yourself and others. When you have a clear vision, understand and utilize your strengths, are mindful of the critics, belong to supportive communities, support one another, and believe in yourself, a world of possibility can open up within you and for you. Following are some practices to embrace your own empowerment.
Believe that you have everything you need within you, and find evidence of your empowerment and confidence.
Look for evidence where you showed up confidently and took empowered action. If this is challenging for you, look for the smaller, subtle occasions where you showed up bravely, were proud of yourself, or appreciated an outcome you created. If you still struggle with this, consider what you can notice about that. Following are some
Be mindful of your self-talk and inner critic.
We can be our biggest fan or our greatest adversary depending on how we talk to ourselves. Be mindful of your internal dialogue. When you find criticism within, try reframing it. If you find yourself saying, “I can’t do ____,” reframe it to be, “I’m figuring out how to _____.” When you are questioning, “Why does this always happen to me?” reframe it to “What can I learn or notice from this?” or “How can I approach this differently?” Reframing and using generative questions can help open our perspectives and change the tone of our internal dialogue.
Find people who uplift and support you.
Just like our own inner dialogue can be our biggest fan or greatest adversary, so can who we surround ourselves with. Find people who uplift and support you. If you are not directly connected with these people it’s okay to create mentors from influencers, celebrities, or people online who inspire you. Perhaps Oprah, Beyonce, or Sara Blakely can be your inspiration while you find people to connect with.
Know and own your strengths.
Identify your strengths, own them, and use them. Identify what comes naturally or easily to you. Where do you feel confident and strong? Own these strengths and lean into them. You are powerful in your own way. Know it and own it!
Act now, and decide to worry about it later.
You can always worry about something. If worry holds you back. You can choose to act now, and then worry about it later if you still feel the need to.
Stay persistent, embrace and push through the discomfort of what’s holding you back.
We have to move through what is uncomfortable to discover growth. Remain persistent. Enough steps in one direction will get you somewhere.
Stay open; reflect and refine often.
Allow space for continual reflection and refinement. Just because you don’t know how to do something today, or you have a belief or perspective today, doesn’t mean you have to hold onto that in the future. Consider what is serving your empowerment and what may not be, and allow yourself to adapt.
Recognize that empowerment isn’t always clearly defined and apparent. Empowerment is multi-dimensional and allows you to create your own desired outcomes. Embrace your own power, know that no one can take that power away from you, and take action toward those desired outcomes.
Boldly owning our power fosters empowerment in others, our communities, and society by enabling action on what is important to us.
